On the Border Detention Centers to try and find some answers. Now, every president , every party has left their fingerprints on the state of our Immigration System today. The reagan administrations Amnesty Policy Drew Widespread Backlash and still gives some nservatives pause today. The Bush Administration had its faults. The administration struggled to handle a spike in migrations amid mass deportations. But at the moment, the Current Administration is separating families from their children at our bor with mexico, not because of a law, but because this administration has chosen to do so. So far despite nearly 2000 children being separated from their families, whats missing from this story are a flood of images of these Young Children. It was images of children, after all, that spurred the president to change course in syria. So far, this young toddler has become the face of this policy. Stop and look at her for just a moment. And remember that there are thousands thousands of other faces that we have not seen. Thats, in part, because cameras have been granted such limited access to the facilities where these children are being held. Lets go live now to Msnbcs Jacob Soboroff in texas. Jacob, you have been one of the few journalists to see the facilities where Migrant Children are being held. Tell us what it is that we cant see. Reporter so, kasie, this building behind me is nondescript, but probably the epicenter of the entire conversation we are having. This is the Border PatrolCentral Processing Center called ursula. Inside are 1200 detainees and more Young Children have been separated from their parents inside that building as their parents leave the building and Anywhere Else along the southern border, and that is because this
sector, the rio grand valley, sees more apprehensions, more people trying to cross illegally than Anywhere Else. And inside this building today, we got inside with another group of journalists for the first time. And what we saw, frankly, is a shocking as Everything Else that we have been seeing. And i want to be really clear, whats happening inside that building in terms of people being detained inside cages by the way, we werent allowed to take cameras in, but we were given photos from customs and border protection. People have been detained inside this building for a long time. This is the First Time Since this is the First Time Ever that children have been separated on a systematic basis. Look at those photos right there. From their parents and that is because of the Trump Administration. People are locked up in cages, essentially what look like animal kennels. I dont know any other way to describe it. Strangely the Washington Post gave senator jeff merkley what they call three pinocchios for saying kids were locked up in cages here. That is exactly what i saw today. Whats different than what is going on in this building than the Obama Administration is the systematic separation of children from their parents under Zero Tolerance policy. In this sector alone, there have been over 1100 kids separated from their parents since the policy began. We know 2000 since early april across the entire southern border so its a massive amount coming out of here. In this building, what happens is parents get ready to leave the building and they dont know if theyre going to i. C. E. Family detention with their children or if they get to bring their children with them or if theyre going to the courthouse to get charged. Ultimately they are given a piece of paper, theyre taken to the courthouse, their children are left behind here, and they dont know when they are going to see their children ever again frankly. I dont think that, you know, theyre supposed to call this phone number and figure out the details and thats something that is supposed to get explained to them, but there is a big mess going on right now. Even the Border Patrol inside this building says theyre overstaffed, they dont have enough resources. The system is getting stressed
out because the Trump Administration decided to put this into place and the consequence really havent been worked out. The biggest consequence of all is thousands of Young Children in a way that has never been done before, taken from their parents. And when you hear the Trump Administration say this has been done before, this is democrat policy, this is not unusual, thats b. S. Frankly. Jacob, were you able to talk to any of the children in the facility or get a sense for what it was like for them . And how, how quickly is there any warning for these people . You said theyre just handed a piece of paper. What dictates whats on that piece of paper . Is it im stuck on this idea of how terrified people must be walking up to receive whatever piece of information is going to tell them, whether or not theyre going to be allowed to stay with their kids. Yeah, there was a mother in tears there today as a group of journalists came around r. We were asked not to talk to people inside. Without the permission of Border Patrol. There were a couple we were sabl to talk to. The idea is by court order they have to be out of here within 72 hours. And because its sort of a hodgepodge of rules and regulations coming together, right now theyre trying to get people out of this facility as fast as possible. If the parents are going to be charged, they try to get them theyre trying to get them over to federal court as fast as possible. Theyre trying to get the kids out of here as fast as possible into facilities run by health and human services. But these scenarios are coming up that were finding out about where a parent, for instance, might be charged. By the way, the Trump Administration, again, wants to charge 100 of the people that come into this country illegally. Right now in this sector theyre saying that number and the separations are around 40 with the goal of charging everybody. There are scenarios where a parent might leave, go to the federal court house, be charged and sentenced with time served, come back to this building behind me and their kids are already gone and theyre already
into the h. H. S. System and they dont know how to find their child and they dont know when theyre going to find their child and they dont know where to find their child. So, there are these inconsistencies in the way this is all playing out thats just making these terribly painful and irrational situations that seem like they could be put together in a way that just frankly makes more sense. Jacob soboroff live in texas. Thank you so much for spending your fathers day to bring us this story here. Great reporting and im sure well talk to you again soon. I want to welcome my panel here with me onset. The founding president and msnbc contributor teresa kumar. Washington post and msnbc analyst Philip Rucker and ken dilanian. Teresa kumar, i want to start with you with the story we started off with jacob. There has been a lot of d
dissembling from Trump Administration officials. As lanyndsay said, the trump with a phone call. Ld stop this this is a decision formulated when john kelly was head of d. H. S. He threw it out there and then it tuck and sessions literally put it into play in may. This is something he cannot only do overnight, but lets look at Mitch Mcconnell and at paul ryan. They also have a legislative calendar they can control. There are two pieces of legislation right now they can say they could end it today. There is something we need to underscore. 90 of these individuals right now that are being charged, theyre being charged with a misdemeanor. In april, the Supreme Court ruled that immigrants can be held indefinitely without bail, so it not only is it messy, but its almost a lining to ensure these individuals are incarcerated for adds long as possible and theyre doing it for misdemeanors that do not make sense. The extent of the cruelty is unimaginable. They have also been reporting that in san diego, even siblings
have been separated and they can only see each other once a week. There is no rhyme or reason for whats happening. What we are experiencing right now at the border is not normal immigration pattern, it is not for economic reasons. These are refugees. I would like to remind the American People we set the standard. We crafted the Human Rights Laws the rest of the world practice. The u. N. Said what we are doing to children is in violation of their rights. Philip cker, what is going on Behind The Scenes at the white house . On the one hand you have officials like Jeff Sessions g out there being very clear, the president is blaming democrats which is not true. Very important, not true. Hr Administration Policy they can stop with a single phone call. Melania trump is saying we have to have policies with heart, quoteunquote. You can see her statement there. She said we need to have a country that follows all laws but governs with heart. Where is the president on this and whether this should continue . Well, this weekend its become a real political crisis
as well as a humanitarian crisis that threatens to spiral out of control for the president. He said friday he talked to reporters friday on the north lawn of the white house and said he doesnt like the Policy Of Separating children from their parents and he blamed it on democrats. Thats not true. Its not the democrats fault as we have said. And the white house is grappling with over the weekend how to deal with it and they don an easy answer for it. Kellyanne conway, counselor to the president , really struggled on Meet The Press earlier this morning to defend this policy. She said as a catholic, as a mother she doesnt like to see whats happening there. We are hearing more and more about whats happening inside those Detention Centers like with jacobs report. My colleagues at the post had a story this weekend about a young girl separated from her parents in tears, very emotional about it, and the workers, Relief Workers inside the Detention Facilities are prohibited from counseling i read that. Its heart breaking. Theyre not allowed to hug them, comfortem. This is a real problem for the white house to deal with. And we have tuesday, the
president planning to go up to capitol hill to meet with republican lawmakers there to try to come up with some sort of legislative solution. But he wants more than just a fix for this particular policy. He wants funding for that border wall. Ken dilanian, the other piece of this, a couple pieces, the Homeland Security secretary Kristen Nielsen has reportedly been very frustrated with this Behind The Scenes, but of course in public we showed her tweet earlier where she says we dont have a policy of doing this yet they are doing it. Also, frankly, the facilities our Law Enforcement is going to get overwhelmed pretty quickly by the sheer numbers. And what she meant is that its not their policy to separate kids. Its their policy to have a Zero Tolerance policy against immigrants and to arrest everybody crossing illegally. You know what, there are a lot of people in the trump base that support that. It is true most countries around the world have a much less generous policy than we do. There is a reason theyre not stopping in mexico, theyre going to our border. But most americans are not on board with this cruel and
punitive policy that stems from current law of removing these children. If thats the only way you can arrest everybody, then you just cant do it. Thats what Kiersten Kneel son has been saying behind t scenes. Joining me to talk about it tom cole of oklahoma. Congressman, its good to see you tonight. Thank you, kasie. Thank you for being here. I want to show you some of the remarks that your colleagues, republican colleagues in the congress have had to say about this topic weve been discussing, separation of children from their families at the border. First paul ryan, the house speaker, and then senator Lindsey Graham. Take a look and well talk about it. Are you comfortable with the current Zero Tolerance policy leading to parents and children being separated at the border . No, im not. This is because our court ruling. Mr. Speaker, on that point, this is actually a Policy Change from the Trump Administration for Zero Tolerance and there is also a court ruling involved. This is something we think should be religious leaders have come out and said this is inhumane. Do you agree . We dont want kids to be separated from their parents. President trump could stop this policy with a phone call. If you dont like families being separated, you can tell d. H. S. Stop doing it. Congressman, should the president make that phone call and stop this policy . Well, i certainly think we shouldnt be separating Young Children from their nts. But frankly, in this case, if you want asylum, you can go to any embassy in any country and seek it. Well adjudicate it there. You can come to a Port Of Entry and it will be dealt with there. Again, you wouldnt be separated from your children. If you cross the border illegally, you run that risk. Frankly we have surges like this. We had them during the obama years. We had hundreds of Young Children held in my district at fort seal, oklahoma, ranging from ages 8 to 14. The Obama Administration, sir, they specifically grappled with this question about whether to separate children from their families, and they decided not to do it and thats how we ended up with many of these family Detention Centers. Milwaukee i, ka esie, thats
not exactly true. When im looking at an 8yearold child in my district, ey weren with their parents. They may have been separated because they traveled alone or traveled in a group or with somebody else. So a lot of these cases are not actually involving a separation of the parents. Its a dangerous thing and discouraging people from Traveling Thousands of miles where they can be exploited and preyed upon and where they run great physical risk is the right thing to be doing. Now, if were going to have hopefully an opportunity this week to address this legislatively and fix it, i agree with speaker ryan. This is not a policy we want to pursue. But i have a lot of sympathy with Border Agents confronted with thousands of people and dont have any easy recourse as to what to do with them. Again, weve housed children for a lot of years. Ive seen it myself under multiple administrations when we get these summer surges. Well, at the same time, i take your point but i do think it is very distinct and different to have unaccompanied minors crossing the border by
themselves than to have people arriving at these Detention Centers. You mentioned legislation, though, comprehensive or if not comprehensive, then certainly more seping Immigration Legislation has failed time and time and time again in the congress, trying to grapple with so many of these issues all at once. If, in fact, this Compromise Legislation that you all have talked about fails to pass the house, would you support a narrow immigration proposal to end this separation of families at the border . Iwould. Im not for separating Young Children from their families. But again, you have to understand that the sheer scope of what were grappling with. And frankly, i would hope people that are concerned about this would make sure our borders are more secure and that we follow the president s four pillars which i still think are the most sensible ways of dealing with problems we have. In terms of comprehensive legislation thats probably not going to happen. I much prefer dealing with things in several pieces of
legislation. I think well have that opportunity this week. I hope our Friends On The Other Side of the aisle help us and i hope republicans, again, are supportive of what the president is trying to do in terms of securing the border. The president hasnt been 100 clear on this compromise bill. Its been quite muddy over the past few days. Is your understanding that he would sign this Compromise Legislation if it were to pass . Thats my understanding. And i get your p